Airport contamination case resurfaces after Supreme Court ruling in Vermont
By Molly Ormsbee
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BURLINGTON, Vermont (WPTZ) — The Vermont Supreme Court has reinstated a lawsuit against the city of Burlington over alleged perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substance contamination from the Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport.
The lawsuit was filed by the Belter family in 2021. The Belters owned a dairy farm and multiple residences next to the airport. According to the lawsuit, the Vermont Air National Guard has been contracted to provide firefighting services at the airport since 1970. Until 2014, the lawsuit alleges that the guard used aqueous film-forming foam that contained PFAS as a fire suppressant.
In 2017, the Belter family claimed they tested the soil and well water on their property, which revealed that PFAS concentrations were six times higher than the groundwater enforcement standard. They eventually sued the city of Burlington for failing to contain the PFAS on their property.
The city appealed the lawsuit, arguing that the case should be consolidated with other cases surrounding the use of PFAS in firefighting foams, specifically against the National Guard. The city said consolidating the case would move it to federal court, and that it should be dismissed due to “sovereign immunity.”
In March 2023, a lower court dismissed all but one of the counts against the city of Burlington, claiming firefighting services are a governmental function shielded by municipal immunity.
Last Friday, the state Supreme Court reinstated five of the seven counts the Belters lodged against the city. The justices argued that the plaintiffs were not trying to hold the city liable for firefighting functions, but for the alleged maintenance failures that caused polluted water to run onto their land. The case will now return to a lower court to determine if the city is liable for the contamination.
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